http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=14807
Bad joke played on Saudi delegation
By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News Correspondent
WASHINGTON, 30 April — Here's the scenario: The meeting between Crown Prince Abdullah and President George W.
Bush is successful, despite a negative national media spin proclaiming disaster before the two met.
Following the Abdullah-Bush summit, positive press about the Saudi peace plan in the Mideast is rehashed.
Suddenly, bizarre news appears in the press that "Aides to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah asked that only male air-traffic controllers guide his flights during his visit to Texas," unnamed "officials" told the Associated Press.
The effect was instantaneous.
Immediately the news focus swung from the positive results of the Abdullah-Bush meeting, to the disparaging focus on the alleged request.
"Texas Furious as Controllers Say Saudi Tried to Ban Women," screamed a lead story in Sunday's Washington Times.
The Dallas Morning News, which broke the story, called it "an outrage." The uproar surrounding Prince Abdullah's purported request generated considerable attention in Texas, and dominated radio talks shows over the weekend - with heated comments.
"It's just one more example of the United States kow-towing to the Arab world for their oil," said one woman on a Dallas talk show.
"I wonder how he treated Mrs. Bush at Crawford," snapped another.
An unnamed FAA official told the Dallas Morning News that the alleged Saudi request was "an outrage." The official was quoted as saying: "Prince Abdullah is in our country and should adhere to our rules." The damage was done.
Many air traffic control officers were furious over allegations that were never substantiated.
"We have received no request from either the Saudis or the US State Department that we provide any special services for Crown Prince Abdullah's visit," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig.
Officials from the Saudi delegation stepped in to try to take charge of the unsubstantiated rumor.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister and member of Abdullah's entourage in Texas, called the reports "absolute nonsense." "The role of women in Saudi Arabia is undergoing tremendous transformation," Prince Saud said.
"They make up half the population.
They are needed to bring the population to its full capacity." Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, also denied the assertions the prince had asked that women be excluded from air traffic control duties affecting his flights to and from meetings last week with President Bush in Texas.
"It's a bad joke... and absolutely did not happen," Al-Jubeir said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "I'm telling you, we didn't make the request. We denied it at the time. The FAA denied it at the time," Al-Jubeir said.
Brit Hume, the Fox interviewer, noted that the FAA had qualified its denial by saying if such a request was made, he was not aware of it.
"The request was allegedly made to the airport, not to the FAA...
so that wouldn't preclude it," Hume said.
"The crown prince didn't even fly in on his aircraft," Al-Jubeir said.
"He flew in on Prince Bandar's aircraft.
The pilots on Prince Bandar's aircraft are former Air Force One pilots.
"With regard to no women on the ramp, there were a lot of women on the ramp, including American ladies who had lived in Saudi Arabia and whose husbands had retired (from Aramco). There were television cameras there. You can look at the images. We have several hundred aircraft that fly into the US on diplomatic missions, and we have never made a request like this. How America manages its air traffic control system is entirely up to it," said Al-Jubeir.
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